A Different Shade of Green
by Terri'smind
Summary: Teddy had learned many things during his life. Probably the most important was this: Never, ever make a bet with Uncle George, and never talk to anyone named Reborn while serving punishment for said bet - bad idea. Teddy is Verde. Pre- curse to begin with. Slash, kind of, and gender bent.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: A Different Shade of Green**

 **Author's Note: This is just a trial. If people like this, then I will consider working on more of it. If not, I probably won't. If anyone likes any ideas they see and want to use them for a story – go for it, just PM if you do- I'll want to read it**.

Teddy Lupin, otherwise known as Verde in underground circles, was not happy. Frustrated- yes. Mortified –yes. Humiliated – definitely. Regretting he ever was stupid enough to make a bet against Uncle George – hell yes. And he claimed to be a genius – ha.

Well, at the moment his genius self was in a Parisian bar getting hit on by a man who had the manners of Pepe Le Pew. Along with the gregarious misunderstanding that the cartoon skunk was under.

Why? Due to the bet with his uncle he was stuck in a girl version of his normal self. Sometimes he cursed the metamorphous abilities he had inherited from his mother. Very rarely, but this was one of those times.

"Midori", as he referred to himself in this form, grit her teeth as the irritating man –oblivious to the fact that she was ignoring him – invaded more of her personal -

The fool had just made the mistake of getting handsy with her.

That resulted in him staggering a retreat because her green stiletto heel met with his family jewels.

She turned back to the counter angrily, took a swig of her blood red wine, before slamming it down, shattering the frail glass into thousands of shimmering fragments. Even in this form she retained her natural strength (which made it ten times worse for the idiot she had kicked.)

She really wished she had just stayed home tonight. However, she couldn't have without breaking her word. Part of the bet had been that she actually had to spend time outside – in "populated areas" according to her dad who had laughed at the bet's results, the traitor. So, she couldn't just hide out in her apartment or lab until her two months were up.

Glancing up at the bald bartender, who was strangely rocking a pitch black handle bar mustache, she grimaced as he glared at her.

Sighing she began pulling out her wallet when a hand slid a bundle of bills to the man behind the counter.

A smooth baritone spoke, "That should cover the lady's drink and the glass." The voice made several of the women – and a couple of the men – swoon, one drunk idiot fell off their barstool.

"Midori" rolled her dark eyes and cocked an immaculate eyebrow. That was faintly ridiculous, but she had to admit it was an envy worthy voice. With a huff, she had a single digit push up her square glasses (Dad hated round glasses after his childhood – they were entirely unflattering on most people) and looked at the man who was now sitting beside her.

Hopefully he would be more respectful of her personal space than that Pepe Le Pew. God, she hated being around men in this form – they became intolerably stupid.

"What? No thank you?" The man teasingly questioned. Turning fully to face him she restrained herself from gapping like a dumbstruck moron. But god was he handsome. His hair was jet black and curly at the top and his dangerously mischievous black pits called eyes were focused, disturbingly, solely on her. He was in a sharp black suit with a boldly yellow button down and black tie to complete the look. She was curious to see if his curly sideburns were kept in place naturally or from hair spray, but somehow managed to restrain herself. She hated other people invading her personal bubble, so she wasn't about to disturb someone else's. And her dad thought he had failed at teaching her manners.

"Thanks," she quipped, still evaluating the man. Something was off about him, but something told her she should know who he was.

She was about to turn away when:

"Wait. That's all you're going to say?" He asked, looking a little confused. As if wondering why the "woman" he was talking to didn't jump to continue the conversation.

Her right eyebrow quirked. "You wanted a statement of gratitude, right? Well, you got one."

"Your name would also be appreciated." He said with an elegant motion of the hand that had him leaning against the counter in a poster model pose. His smirk was arrogant but charming.

"Midori" hummed. This banter was much preferable. "Yes, I suppose it would be."

"Am I going to hear it?"

"It is good manners to introduce yourself before you ask for someone's name. What kind of gentleman are you?"

His eyes flashed. "Midori" was curious if she had finally ticked him off, this was almost as enjoyable as watching one of her experiments' reactions. Almost. Though human reactions were oh, so entertaining.

How would he react if he knew the "lady" he was so obviously flirting with was a man. The corner of her pouty lips quirked into a brief, unnoticeable smile.

"How remiss of me. And to have to have a lady such as yourself point it out… I apologize." Before she knew what had happened the stranger had her hand in his and placed a kiss on the back of it. "Reborn, at your service my lady."

"Midori" tilted her head unimpressed, though for some reason she felt like she had heard that name before recently, she replied, "You may call me Midori."

He smirked devilishly and charmingly. Something that really shouldn't be possible.

"Midori" vaguely thought that she needed to go back to her male body pronto, before this man made her question her sexuality. Well, whatever, it wasn't like she would see him again after tonight.

 **Territerriterri**

Reborn had been contracted for a hit in Paris. As per his reputation, he did it quickly and as his employer wanted. So, with being in the city of love he went out to find a companion for the night. It was France, he spoke the language of love, he was the best looking bastard he had ever laid eyes on. What problem would he have?

Too bad he had set his sights on a stunning woman who was completely uninterested in a one night stand or him in general.

She had first caught his attention when a man had acted in a most ungentlemanly way. Well, he had noticed her before – really who could miss a woman with short green hair and a tight green, nearly black dress, with a stunning figure to match.

But what he really paid attention to was her shows of strength. When she had kicked the man he had skidded back several feet before he staggered away. Next, she shattered a deceptively frail looking bar glass with one hand. Bars generally kept tougher glasses due to their tendency to have unruly customers.

All that made him notice her. The fact she was completely disinterested in him kept it up.

When she left he hadn't been able to get a night with her, a date, her number, or even her last name.

He was going to see her again, he determined as he took care of the bill. And one way or another she would be his. If only until she bored him.

 **AN: Please tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A Different Shade of Green

 **Author's Note: Thank you all for all the reviews. I was honestly surprised by how much attention this story got. Please continue to tell me what you think.**

 **In this chapter I felt like Verde and Reborn were out of character, I apologized if that is so. I also apologize for any grammatical errors in advance.**

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally.

Chapter Two:

Teddy Lupin had an isolated childhood. After his maternal grandmother discovered he was a squib at an early age (he had magic, obviously, because of his metamorphous ability he just couldn't use magic); he had been passed off to his godfather. Harry Potter refused to speak to Andromeda Tonks nee Black after that.

Teddy grew up as Harry, barely twenty at the time, was learning to live. They traveled all over the world, staying in countries that Harry found interesting long enough for Teddy to have a tutor teach him their native language, before setting off again.

At first his godfather, turned father, had been concerned about his learning being so sporadic, but after Teddy had displayed his genius, it had become less of a concern.

By the age of ten Teddy had his first master's degree. He had applied, signed up, and taken online classes from a non-magical university without Harry knowing. The college hadn't even discovered that somehow a child had gained a master's degree in engineering. Graduation day had been a shocker to both adult parties. It was his first master's degree, but it was not his last.

During his teens he spent a few years staying with his Uncle George at the joke shop. He learned to love research and inventing even more than he already had.

He had now friends and few cousins he could connect with, but he had his research and inventions; the love of his father and favorite uncle, so he was content.

 **Territerriterriterri**

It had been a week since "Midori" had encountered Reborn at the bar when he showed up at her apartment's door.

For a moment she was stunned to see him, but quickly made her face expressionless.

"You, Miss Midori, are a difficult lady to track down." He said with a smirk. It was a lie, he had learned her address the day after he first met her, but he didn't want to frighten the civilian woman, much.

"Obviously not too difficult. You're at my door after all." "Midori" said, pushing up her glasses. Nonchalantly she slipped out of her apartment, and closed the door so that he could not look inside. It wasn't decorated like an apartment a woman would have. Too masculine.

Though, if need be she could lie and say it was her twin brother's place, but there was no need to overcomplicate things.

"Obviously," he agreed, matching her stride as she walked.

"Why exactly did you track me down? What do you want?" She asked rather bluntly.

"Go on a date with me. Now." He said, almost like a command.

Part of "Midori" bristled at his tone. Another, more indifferent part of her said 'Why not? You have to go out today and it's not like you have anything planned.'

Grudgingly she agreed with the logical reasoning. However, she did knee Reborn in a place that, as a guy, she would have grimaced.

As Reborn recovered from the unexpected hit (that he really should have been able to dodge), "Midori" straightened her dark green, pencil skirt that had rode up when she moved.

"Do not speak to me like that." She ordered with a completely blank face. Even so she radiated authority standing over the bent man. "You are not my father or anyone who has any right to command me to do anything."

Reborn managed to collect himself. He cursed himself for going after a woman he knew was strong and had no problem hurting men who annoyed her, however, that only made him more interested in her, unfortunately. He wondered why she hadn't walked off when she spoke:

"Well, hurry up. Where are you taking me?" She said starting to walk, he quickly caught up to her utterly bewildered at her behavior. But he knew better than to question her and he led her to the five star Italian restaurant he had made reservations at.

This woman was growing more and more interesting.

 **Territerriterriterri**

Surprisingly, the date went well despite the beginning of it. As did the second, and the third. Before "Midori" knew it she was going out with Reborn every Friday and Saturday night and, excepting when he had to go out of town on business they met up almost every day: to go to an art gallery, a museum, or a café to just sit and chat.

"Midori" had never spent time with anyone like this before, besides her father and uncle. It was…new. Different she supposed. She liked it.

After a month of going out like this "Midori" began to experience strange symptoms.

Her heart rate increased at random times, sometimes just looking at Reborn speaking a dinner would trigger it. Hearing his voice as he snuck up behind her made a shiver crawl across her spine, and she occasionally felt so…overwhelmed that she nearly got dizzy.

So it was completely obvious to her that she had developed some type of condition. From the symptoms perhaps anemia.

So when she had a free day – Reborn was out of town for business, something alerted her to something strange in the back of her mind, but she ignored it – she tested herself for it.

When the blood work came back as normal, she was very confused. So she called her Uncle George – she had created a phone that could withstand their magical energy – and explained her situation to him. She didn't want to worry her father if there was anything wrong with her.

As she was serious as she spoke to her uncle and explained the situation, ever Reborn who could be a catalyst, his reaction was not what she had anticipated.

He laughed.

He laughed and laughed and laughed.

She managed to calm him down from borderline hysteria, and even then he was giggling as he told her his diagnosis.

He said that she was in love.

Her response was complete and utter denial and she said a few words to Uncle George that her father would have washed her mouth out with soap for.

Uncle George had said after that. "You asked, I answered. You'll realize it before too long, well, probably. I'll give you some time before I tell Harry. He'll flip when he hears that his 'Little girl' is in love."

She cussed his laughing self out, mentally this time, again, before hanging up.

When the time for her bet's requirements had been up for three months and she was still staying in her female form for everything except work, she admitted that her uncle may have been on to something.

And if one day "Midori" and Reborn had been walking around arm in arm when some annoying group of women would NOT STOP STARING at Reborn she went into an Italian boutique and bought a handcrafted black fedora with an orange band so that it would cover up his feature so people couldn't see. Well, she might have admitted that she did feel something for Reborn.

She certainly felt anger when the fedora did nothing but highlight his dangerously elegant features and make his curly sideburns more prominent, completely defeating the purpose of buying the damn hat.

When Reborn realized why she had bought the fedora, he laughed. He didn't stop until she, with her face turned pink, came close to kicking him, again.

She finally admitted that she was in love with Reborn when she woke up next to him one morning in bed.

She was so screwed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: A Different Shade of Green**

 **AN: Well, this chapter is rather short, however I do hope that everyone enjoys it all the same. I would like to thank ya'll for the reviews, favorites, and follows, I do appreciate it. For those who are curious about my other stories updates, they will be updated as soon as I write something. I apologize to those who are waiting, but more likely than not this story will be updated sooner than the other two due to the next chapter for this is partially written already unlike the others.**

 **Chapter Three:**

When Midori finally allowed him to come to her apartment he was surprised, but didn't show it. Oh, it wasn't the fact that it was scarily clean, or that the color green was nearly overpowering. It wasn't that there was not television in the apartment, nor was it the fact that the kitchen looked like a professional chief's wet dream.

No, what surprised him was the fact the apartment was completely…unfeminine. It wasn't obvious but something about the place just seemed so masculine. It didn't give him the impression of a woman's apartment.

"You have a very comfortable place here." Reborn noted neutrally. He noticed there were no pictures, nor paintings on the walls, very impersonal.

"Thanks," she replied. She glanced at him with her obsidian eye, and apparently saw something in his. "What do you want to ask?"

"Is this your apartment?"

"No."

Though unhappy with that reply he doesn't ask anything more.

 **Territerriterriterri**

After dinner one Friday night they went back to her apartment. "Midori" wasn't all that interested in science fiction movies ( never really having bothered to watch a movie at all ), but agreed because Reborn had asked her in his killer baritone right beside her ear. He was incorrigible.

Though she suspected he was regretting that decision later on. "Midori" spent most of the movie criticizing and pointing out every wrong fact and scientific impossibility that the movie presented.

Finally, she could tell, Reborn had had enough and took out the VHS and broke it in half.

" Why did you do that? I was enjoying the movie." "Midori" said honestly.

Reborn glared.

He sat back down beside her and began flipping through channels. "Midori", though still not happy he installed a T.V and VHS player without her permission (hell, how had he even gotten into her house?), enjoyed the normalcy of it all.

Just two people spending time together content in each other's company.

Life was good. If only for the moment.

 **Territerriterriterri**

" What is that expression for?" "Midori" asked. They had somehow stopped on a news channel that was talking about how Canada had legalized gay marriage. They had several photographs of smiling and kissing couples at alters popping up as the newscaster spoke.

Reborn had an unusual expression on his face that unnerved her.

"Nothing really. I just can't understand it." Reborn said motioning towards the T.V.

"What is there to understand? They are in love, so they desire matrimony." "Midori" said slowly, expression neutral as well as tone.

"I just can't imagine being finding someone of my own sex attractive. They obviously can, so they can do as they please, I suppose. It doesn't make sense to me though. Women are much better, that's all." He said with one of his elegant motions, as if what he was saying held no importance.

"So," she said forcing a teasing tone. "If I were a man, same personality and all, you wouldn't even spare me a glance?"

His reply crushed and infuriated her in equal parts.

"No, not at all." He replied with confidence and assurance as he leaned to kiss her neck. " I like you just how you are. Lucky for me."

He had no idea that this wasn't how "she" was and that she could not nor would accept that answer.

The next time Reborn went away for a week, "Midori" quickly packed, sold the apartment (you just had to love the Paris real estate market ), and "Midori" disappeared.

Interesting enough, or worrisome, on her way out she went down the alley beside her apartment and was attacked by an assassin. A rather pathetic one, but still. She was able to extract that he had been hired to kill her because she had been seen constantly with Reborn for the past few months.

That's when Reborn's name connected with the famous mafia hitman she had heard vague rumors of since she started dabbling in the underground. That's when she realized that she had dated, fell in love with, and was leaving the world's greatest hitman.

How problematic.

She was still infuriated with him, though, the bastard.

 **AN: Please tell me what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

A Different Shade of Green

 **AN: Yeah, sorry it took so long to get this out. I'm kind of struggling on where to go with this (though I like the KHR fandom a lot I don't really know much about it). So, I hope everyone likes this chapter.**

Chapter Four:

When Reborn returned to Paris and found Midori's apartment cleared out with a new owner moving in he wasn't sure what emotion he felt.

If he postponed all of his jobs for two months to search for her, and if the day his search ended in yet another dead end, only Shamal knew how much he drank.

And if he was more brutal than necessary on his hits after that, well, it's not like anyone lived to comment on it.

If he went after women with no inclination to care, it's not like it mattered. Not anymore.

Five months after she left the letter came.

* * *

After vacating his apartment in the center of Paris Verde relocated to a family villa in Italy. It was spacious, in the middle of a sleepy fishing villa that had no ties to the mafia.

It was closer to his employers (most of them being mafia) and from what he could learn, Italy was Reborn's home country. He most likely would not look for "Midori" there. And if he, by some unlikely chance did, all he would find was a male green haired lightening flame scientist. When Verde transformed using his metamorphagus ability it made his flames unable to be detected because of the magic.

To Reborn "Midori" had seemed to be a complete civilian with no active flames.

Verde… was another story all together.

From what he could gather (through multiple experiments on various…volunteers) he had very strong lightening flames.

Once settled, Verde threw all of his concentration on his research and experiments. It was with an unrelenting focus. It was almost borderline obsessive.

Within two months he had driven half of his assistants to having daily anxiety attacks and the other half had shot themselves. Which had unfortunately halved his workforce, but did allow him more cadavers to experiment on. His remaining workers had to clean up the messes and work twice as hard to fill in the gaps.

The survivors were too focused on _surviving_ to ponder why Verde was setting such a blistering pace. They didn't really care either.

* * *

A week or so later the pace halted and Verde sent all of his assistants away telling them to return in a year. They threw a party and some collapsed, weeping tears of joy. The minions didn't question why. They were too thrilled at the break.

* * *

Recently Verde had not been feeling well. Almost every morning (he woke up at three a.m.) he quickly rushed to the bathroom. He felt as if he was vomiting his intestines out (logically he knew he wasn't but he felt awful).

He had the urge to murder everyone in sight at one moment and the next he was barely restraining himself from bawling his eyes out, missing Reborn (weird because, though he still loved him, he was still very angry). He also began wanting strawberry milk and mint chocolate chip ice-cream for every meal that he bothered to leave the lab to eat. (Extraordinarily, strange because he was deathly allergic to strawberries and he normally could not stand mint flavored anything). The mild resulted in him puncturing himself with an epinephrine auto injector almost every day to stop his allergic reaction.

At first because of the nausea, he had examined himself for the flu, and when that came back negative, he tested himself for cancer despite his other symptoms were completely unrelated to it.

So, when that also tested negative, he went to his dad, who was staying with Uncle George at the moment, to see if it was a magical illness he had contracted.

Verde explained the strange symptoms to his father who had an odd expression on his face as he cast a spell that he had learned while dappling in healing magic. When Verde's stomach glowed blue his dad's face turned red with anger and objects and furniture around the room began to shake and tremble. Uncle George had begun laughing hysterically.

Verde had to physically restrain his father so that the man would not up and leave (and from the look on his father's face, murder someone quite painfully). After his father sat down and began to calm down - though anyone could tell he was still plotting the utter annihilation of some unfortunate individual – Verde demanded his uncle tell him what was going on.

When he heard he wished he hadn't asked.

"Congratulations, Teddy-bear, in seven months you'll be a mummy." His uncle cackled. "You've made Harry a grandfather so young."

For the first time in his life Verde's mind went utterly blank except for:

 _Oh shit_.

When he had recovered from his shock, made his father swear to not kill his ex ( Verde hadn't told anyone but Uncle George that he had even been dating anyone), and stopped Uncle George from teasing him, he returned to his Italian villa. He immediately sent all of his minions away.

Once they were gone, he sat down where he stood and contemplated what he was going to do.

 **Please tell me what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

A Different Shade of Green

 **AN: Yeah, don't get used to updates coming this fast, it probably won't keep up. Thank everyone who reviewed, I truly enjoy reading everything everyone has to say about this story. I apologize for any mistakes in advance. Enjoy.**

Chapter Five:

When Verde was younger, and unable to collect people to experiment on (mostly due to his age and the fact that his target…volunteer population was so rare they were almost non-existent and that he wasn't able to experiment on himself and record data simultaneously), he had gotten his father to explain to him how he was able to use his metamorphagus ability when he was a squib.

His father had explained that he did have magic, like all other squibs (Miss Fig wouldn't have been able to see the Dementors in his father's fifteenth summer if she didn't possess some magic, after all). However, though squibs did possess magic they were unable to cast spells, or in other words, manifest their magic outside of their bodies.

Because, his father had explained, his metemorphagus ability happened internally (such as when he transformed into a female, he got all of a female's working anatomy) it was the only time his magic was able to work 'normally'.

And that would be how Verde was able to conceal his flames while using his metamorphagus ability. He would later wish he had remembered that it was an ability that sometimes worked a little too well. Oh, such as the time he was having coitus with the world's greatest hitman when he was operating with a fully functional uterus.

His genius escaped him at the most inopportune times (like when making bets with his Uncle George).

* * *

After his little…episode (he refused to call it a breakdown, he was much too smart to do something so …emotional), Verde collected himself. He spent the next week wrapping up his experiments and completing some weapons that the Bovino family had ordered (why he didn't know, weren't they supposed to be the intelligent Mafia family?). He sent the results and weapons to the contractors before alerting all his regular employers that he was going on hiatus for an undetermined amount of time.

Of course that resulted in having several of those employers sending assassins after him to try and convince him that he didn't want to stop working for them. He dealt with those nuisances swiftly and sent their heads back to the ones who hired them (he put the bodies on ice to play with later… did he say play? He meant experiment…yeah).

Anyway after Verde set his affairs in order he locked down the Italian villa and went to ground in a safe house in the Scottish countryside. (His father would be mad if he wasn't close at hand during this entire situation.)

The cottage was one that Verde had bought in his early twenties under his actual name (which he had been especially careful to keep away from any mafia radar). It was on the small side and mostly isolated (he owned all of the surrounding two-hundred acres – so no pesky neighbors. He had purchased it with his experiments in mind, nosy people had the tendency to call the police and make such a fuss when things exploded. It was very annoying.)

It had modern décor and was designed to his tastes (that is to say, minimalistic and the color green abundant). The lab was situated in the basement and much smaller than most of his others (which was why he had not used this place much since he bought it), but he could tolerate it for a few months (or until his father emerged from his rage at Verde's ex and realized his son was conducting dangerous experiments while…delicate). Until then it would do.

Verde settled in, gathered information on children (his nearly estranged extended family had almost collectively sent him a library on books on children and pregnancy…well after they had recovered from the shock that he had actually had a physical relationship with an actual human being that resulted in the creation of another human being. He didn't believe they thought he was capable of such.). He also deliberated the ramifications of person, born with X and Y chromosomes reproducing with someone also possessing X and Y chromosomes (if he had a boy, would it be possible for the child to have two Y chromosomes?).

His father set up the nursery (which was when his father also warded his lab so Verde couldn't get in), and Verde had decided on a name.

As time passed, he was growing larger and more bored by the day. He had read all the books on children his various relatives had sent him, was barred from his only hobby (his experiments and inventions), and every day he could look down and see a physical reminder of his failed relationship with the only person he had ever romantically love.

To distract himself he was reduced to reading…ugh, fiction. A genre he hadn't stooped to reading since he was five. To his growing horror he discovered he enjoyed reading some of the made-up nonsense that minds feebler than his had concocted.

Though it appalled him to admit it he was truly relived that he had found _something_ that he could entertain himself with.

It was the fifth month after he left Reborn (his fifth month of pregnancy too) when the letter arrived. I was a letter requesting his presence at a meeting of the strongest in the world to discuss a proposition.

He sent a (rude) letter of refusal.

It frustrated him, though, not being aware of how they (whoever 'they' were) had delivered the letter to him. Yes, it had arrived in his mailbox (which was an absurdly long walk from the home itself), but how had anyone known where he was?

He resolved to call his father, the next day, to ward the outside of his home. Verde didn't want anyone disturbing him, especially now.

He did not, in fact, get around to contacting his father immediately the next day. The next morning, when he meandered into his living room, there was a woman sitting (very pregnant one at that, wearing the most ridiculous outfit he had ever seen (and he had seen wizards trying to 'fit in' with non-magicals, so that was saying something)), on his sofa.

The unexpected sight very nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Who the bloody hell are you? And what the devil are you doing in my house?"

 **AN: Okay, someone mentioned that Verde and Reborn's kid could be a cannon character – and while I hadn't really considered it I kind of like the idea. My only problem is who could it be? I might have an idea already, but if anyone says any recommendations I haven't thought of … or I might just go with my original oc idea, who knows.**

 **Please tell me what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

A Different Shade of Green

 **AN: Again, another uncommonly fast update, really, do not get use to this. I'm just having an unprecedented amount of inspiration for this fic. Thank you everyone for your reviews I really do enjoy reading what you all think. I apologize for any mistakes you find. Enjoy.**

Chapter Six:

Verde had always hated surprises.

The woman, who had broken into his house and made herself at home, just smiled at him.

"I'm Luce. " she said (after she had told him – in his own home! – to sit down). "You received a letter yesterday, correct?"

"Yes. I replied –something you can't have received yet – that I was not getting involved."

"I am aware of that, and I am aware of why you responded as such. I am here to tell you that you should participate in this meeting, in person or not." She had a smile, so nice and falsely sincere- that Verde instantly hated. She pointedly looked at his stomach.

Verde said nothing.

"Mr. Verde, I assure you that even if you refuse, I will not harm you or your child, in fact, I'll never set foot in this house again. However, I know of your location and civilian identity, Mr. Lupin-Potter-Black." That damned smile persisted and she tilted her head, "There are some very cruel people in this world, you know. It would be terrible if that information got to the wrong people."

Verde ground his teeth together. He desperately wanted to test how high her pain tolerance was at the moment. Not only was she not so subtly threatening him, his family, and his future child, (and while he was strong and most of his family had magic to protect themselves, hitmen could get very creative when they had to. And even though he wasn't close with most of his family it would upset his father awfully if anything happened to them, and that was most certainly something he wanted to avoid) she had been constantly reaching at him with her sky flames trying to get him to harmonize with her since he had entered the room.

However, with the information she had (and she wouldn't have come here alone if she hadn't made sure someone else had the information too), he was effectively stuck. Plus he refused to kill her while she was harboring an innocent life (he had a rule of not…gathering…volunteers if they were under sixteen, and he would send other people to kill people he considered to be children (anyone who could defend themselves was not a child) but he would not do it personally) and he couldn't wait until after her child was born because he refused to make a child an orphan (those were some of his very few moral standards). Again, he was stuck.

 _It's like dad says, fate really hates us._

"So, how do you propose I attend a meeting without actually being there?" he asked mockingly through his teeth.

Still she smiled. "Oh, I have no idea. You're smart, though, so I have no doubt you'll work something out. "

* * *

After she had said that, though, she didn't leave and somehow managed to get him to talk to her about his pregnancy, and to his horror he found that they were swapping stories of the strange things pregnancy had done to them. (She had developed a taste for popcorn coated in hot sauce during her craving stage, and had started baking cookies every time she got stressed. He told her of the mint chocolate chip ice cream and strawberry milk, and revealed his newly discovered love of literature and yoga.)

He really had no logical reason to speak so candidly to a woman who had broken into his house and threatened him.

He blamed the sky flames.

It was a relief when she left, but before that she said "Same time and place as the letter said. See you in two weeks."

And then she was gone.

 _That bitch!_

He called his father, who drug Uncle George along. He told them nothing of the letter, the woman, or, even, the reason he wanted magical protection on his home (they chalked it up to pregnancy hormones making him paranoid). While his father was casting the wards, Uncle George forced him to watch a strange anime he and his father had found. Though Verde didn't really understand why they were watching it (unless it was research on how to kill his ex) it did give him an idea on how he was going to attend the "meeting of the seven strongest".

 **AN: Okay, the woman was the boss of a mafia family, she couldn't have been all smiles and cookies all the time – I don't buy it. Not sure if all of this made sense. Anyway, still haven't made up my mind about their kid, so that might cause some delay, but who knows.**

 **Please tell me what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

A Different Shade of Green

 **AN: Struggling a bit with remembering what's actually canon and what's fanon that I've read along the way. Enjoy.**

Chapter Seven:

On the day the gathering was to occur (thankfully, they had not quite reached the 'fated day' that was inevitable in the near future), Luce began to grow concerned when everyone had shown up and the only one they were waiting for was Verde. (She was thrilled when most everyone accepted her cookies.)

Had he disregarded her warning? Had he been unable to come up with an alternative way to be present? Surly not he was reputed to be a genius. Was he merely delaying the inevitable by trying to show up as late as possible?

The sound of a motor whirling distracted her from her thoughts, and she was mildly surprised when an odd machine flew into the room. It was slender and had a rectangular shape, it hovered itself onto the table and opened up, facing the rest of the future arcobaleno, revealing a screen with a green background with a white 'V' in the middle.

How…odd. But she supposed Verde was a genius, and was prone to his quirks. And if he had to send a machine in the beginning to start his participation, well, whatever worked. He would come in person just in time for the most important part and that's all that really mattered.

* * *

"What the hell is this?"

Reborn watched from underneath the brim of his fedora as the purple haired _child_ got up from his seat to inspect the machine that had flown in. (And, really, what was with that?). They had been waiting on the seventh person to arrive (punctuality was very important and it annoyed Reborn to no end that the person was keeping the meeting from starting).

"I believe that would be our final guest." Luce said smiling. Reborn noticed that had glanced at her cookie tray in disappointment (he assumed she was pouting that she couldn't offer a machine cookies).

"Mou…it owes me money for wasting my valuable time waiting." Viper murmured from under their hood.

Luce opened her mouth to speak just as Skull moved to touch the machine's screen. A robotic arm emerged from the device and cut through Skull's glove causing him to back away clutching his hand with a yelp.

"Do not touch my machine. The advanced technology it possesses is worth more than you are." Said an irritated male's voice coming from the device. (Oddly, but really not, at the words Viper turned a speculating gaze towards the machine).

"Oh, Verde, I'm so glad you could make it." Luce said, clapping her hands together happily.

 _Verde?_ Reborn recognized the name. From what he had heard, the man was not officially part of any famiglia, was known as a mad scientist with a nasty reputation for not caring at all for his subordinates (even driving good portions of them to suicide), and that he often kidnapped people for conducting his experiments (Verde did but they were often prisoners – though Reborn didn't know that).

All in all, Reborn had never heard anything good about Verde besides he was supposedly a genius. Combined with Verde's reputation, obvious lack of punctuality, and his gall to have not even shown up in person, Reborn was beginning to dislike the man already.

It had absolutely nothing to do with his name being a painful reminder of Midori. Not at all.

He scowled at the machine's screen as the group reintroduced themselves for the late comer.

Reborn, and the rest he supposed, were informed by Luce that their (mysterious) employer had gathered them to work together on several jobs that were going to come up in the next couple of months. While Reborn didn't really do the whole "working with others" thing, the deal was really too good to pass up.

As Luce came to a close, finishing up their instructions, Fon spoke up. "Excuse me, but, if I am not mistaken, you said it is required we live together?"

"Yes, that is a stipulation."

It was the weirdest damned stipulation Reborn had ever heard, and he had been in this business for a long, long time.

"What about him?" Skull asked pointing to – Verde, he supposed he could say, though the person in question wasn't even truly there.

"What about him?"

"Is he going to live with us? He's not even here now!"

"Idiot's got a point." Lal-Mirch said.

"Of course I –hey!"

Reborn waited to hear this.

"I will not be joining you all just yet. Even on jobs my presence will not be necessary as I will be in front of a computer and relaying information from a distance anyway." Verde said. Reborn still found it a bit disconcerting that the voice had no image and it was just a voice with a letter attached. He didn't even know what the man looked like, and as far as he was aware not many people did, rumor had it that the man very rarely left his secret lab bases.

"I do not see how that is fair." Fon said, his eyebrows creased.

"I don't see how life is fair at all, so you can just –"

"What I believe Verde is trying to say, "Luce intercepted, apparent to everyone that she was trying to smooth over the situation, and prevent Verde from offending anyone else. "Is that at the moment he is unable to come in person and will come to fully participate as soon as possible. I'm sorry about this unfairness to everyone else but it is truly unavoidable. And like Verde said, he really doesn't need to be here in person, especially with that cute little machine that he has devised, we can communicate with him easily. After all it will be in the home we are staying at too."

Verde neither confirmed nor denied her statements, Reborn noted, however Luce's words did calm everyone in the room, including himself, so the subject was dropped.

* * *

From very far away, in Scotland, Verde was leaning back against his bed's headboard in front of the machine he had invented to communicate (he called it a laptop, and he could see them through the screen though they couldn't see him) surrounded by, some empty some full, half gallons of ice cream, absolutely fuming. He could not stand that woman, and from what he was seeing the others were eating out of the palm of her hand. Even Reborn…

 _That bitch, that fucking bitch. And that stupid fedora wearing, heartbreaking, asshole that knocked me up….Ugh!_

Verde took an angry bite of his mint chocolate chip ice cream. Things were just not going his way lately.

 **AN: I'm not terribly happy with this chapter, but I couldn't figure out anything I liked better, so... Anyway, disclaimer for the invention of the laptop - the concept for a personal computer is accredited to a guy by the name of Alan Kay. The anime I mentioned in the previous chapter was actually Death Note , but though I don't know how far before canon this story is yet, I didn't want to say the name because of anachronistic problems. I got the idea when L taunts Kira on the live broadcast after Kira kills Lind L. Tailor and twisted it a bit.**

 **Please tell me what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

A Different Shade of Green

 **AN: I apologize for any mistakes you may find, please tell me if you spot any inconsistencies. Enjoy.**

Chapter Eight:

"Theodore Remus Lupin-Potter-Black!"

Harry had been concerned when he hadn't heard from his beloved godson (who was he kidding? Teddy _was_ his son in every way that mattered) in a week. Which was extremely odd, Teddy was very good about keeping in contact with Harry (and, more recently, keeping Harry up to date with the soon-to-be addition to the family). So, when the seventh day he hadn't heard from Teddy rolled around, Harry flooed over to the cottage.

He had not expected to find what he had.

He had found Teddy holed up in his bedroom. Stacks upon stacks of empty ice cream containers were piled on the floor and on the bed beside where Teddy was propped. Though, he had a hard time seeing the extent of the mess because the only light in the room was from as glowing screen that was in Teddy's lap. He was, however, able to see that the floor was covered except for a kicked path to the door Harry had entered through and to the door Harry knew led to the master bath.

Cruelly, he flipped on the light switch. And proceeded to examine Teddy as he groaned at the sudden intense light and rubbed at his eyes. Teddy…was an absolute mess. His hair was limp and greasy, as if he hadn't bathed in days, and there was stubble on his chin that really needed to go. Yeah, he knew his son sometimes got so caught up in his experiments he forgot to take care of himself, but never to this extent (not that Harry had seen) and Teddy had always been nearly as much as a neat freak as Harry was himself. Besides Teddy shouldn't have anything to devote this much focus on (Harry _had_ restricted him from the lab). This was bloody ridiculous. And this wasn't even the first time, Teddy had been acting rather odd since he had asked him to add wards to the cottage and that had been two months ago.

"Theodore Remus Lupin-Potter-Black! What the ruddy hell is this? Why are there empty ice cream cartons on the floor? Bloody hell! That pile is nearly to the ceiling! Is that a pile of strawberry milk cartons over there?"

Teddy blinked and looked at Harry as if he was just now realizing his presence and a bit spaced out. This is what looking at glowing screens in the dark would do to a person.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I don't know," said Harry, very heavy on the sarcasm. "Gosh. I _thought_ I was checking up on my son, whom I haven't heard from in a _week._ Do you know why that is?"

Teddy asked, "A week? Really? Isn't it just Tuesday?"

"It's Sunday, sweetheart." Harry informed his son dryly. He swept some of the empty cartons off the bed and onto the floor, making some room for himself on the bed. "So, what's gotten my Teddy-bear so preoccupied? You had not be working on any of your experiments on that contraption you have there." Harry said, pointing to the what-ever-the-thing-was that had the glowing screen. He had given up a long time ago on trying to figure out half of what Teddy worked/invented/experimented on/with. It went much too far over his head.

"Nothing." Teddy responded much too quickly.

Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but restrained himself. He was astounded that Teddy still attempted to hide things from him. He had raised Teddy after all, and no matter how much smarter Teddy was than him (and his son truly was, no denying that) he did know his son. However, Harry did know when to pick his battles (and he would find out what had Teddy so strange, just, later), so he relented and moved on to another topic he had been wanting to hear about that Teddy had been evading him on.

"Is that right?" Harry said, making sure that his disbelief was clearly audible.

Teddy nodded.

"You're a poor liar, at least to me. Nevertheless, put up your gizmo, go get yourself cleaned up, and meet me in the kitchen. You will have a proper meal while I'm here." Harry commanded, looking pointedly at the empty sweet containers that were all over.

Teddy did as he was told. Once Teddy was in the bathroom, Harry got out his wand, vanished all of the trash, and went to the kitchen to fix a decent meal.

* * *

"Tell me about him." His father commanded once Verde had made a decent amount of his food disappear (his father had fixed him a steak, just the way he liked it –bloody (his biological father being a werewolf did had a slight effect on him, that was also where he got his physical strength from)) . The words nearly made Verde spit out his food in surprise, but managed to restrain the action and successfully swallow.

Verde looked at his father's expression and realized he would not be able to get out of this (honestly he was surprised it had taken this long – seven months – for his father to ask about this).

"Fine." Verde verbally announced his acceptance to reveal the information. "But I'm not saying his name. You'll hunt him down and kill him."

His father, as he had expected he would, did nothing to deny that statement.

So, he told his father about how he and Reborn met (not using the hitman's name), how Reborn had tracked him down for a date (and described the painful expression that Reborn's face had contorted into when Verde had kneed him in his unmentionables, knowing it would fill his father will a vengeful glee), the dates that followed, and how Reborn made him feel. He told him of the day Reborn had (unknowingly) rejected a large part of who Verde was (he was born male and identified as male, while he had no problem wearing his female form and was quite comfortable acting as female, he _did_ identify as male in the end. When he had been 'Midori' he had still had his personality, just with different anatomy at the time, and it hurt him when Reborn basically said that he wouldn't have given him the time of day in his male form _just_ because of the anatomy difference), and his subsequently exodus of Paris (pity, he had really liked that flat in the city of love too).

After his tale his father sat in silence, processing the information for a bit.

"That sounds…a bit rash for you Teddy," said his father with a slight frown and crease of his eyebrows marring his face.

"Which part?"

"Honestly?" His father said with some amusement. "The whole thing seems a bit out of character for you, considering you're not one with much use for connecting with people or social interaction or feelings, really. But, I was specifically speaking of the fact that you left, without giving him a chance to actually react. You didn't even tell him."

Verde stared incredulous at his father. "I thought you wanted to kill him? It sounds like your _sympathizing_ with the bastard."

His father rolled his eyes. "Hardly. Just commenting on your un-you-like actions. Normally you'd actually test your hypotheses before drawing your conclusions, that's all." His father's emerald eyes blazed with maliciousness that looked so out of place in his father's normally kind eyes. "I assure you I fully plan on tracking down the man who helped create my future grandchild…I've got to express my _appreciation._ " The way his father said that (and looked as he said that- Verde had shivers run down his spin (maybe this was where he had gotten his love of experimenting on his …vic-volunteers from?)) made him almost feel bad for Reborn. Almost.

Oh well, Reborn was safe as long as his father had no clue who Verde had been dating. So the hitman was safe. For now.

His father did always manage to find out things, no matter how much people tried to hide them from him.

 **AN: Yeah...originally this chapter wasn't supposed to exist, but some of the comments inspired it, and it just sort of happened. Though this could be considered another delay tactic because I still haven't been able to make up my mind about Verde and Reborn's kid. I know some people wanted more Harry involvement and some people earlier on wanted to know more about Verde's opinion/view on his gender, so I hope this satisfied both accounts.**

 **Please tell me what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

A Different Shade of Green

 **AN: Hope ya'll enjoy.**

Chapter Nine:

Verde's impression of the other six of the 'seven strongest'?

He hated Luce. The bitch would pay for her actions against him. During missions the woman was beyond damned useless (and he concluded that even if she hadn't been pregnant she would still be useless). And that's all he could be bothered to say on the subject.

While he felt the smallest amount of pity (somewhere deep, deep, deep, down in the darkest recesses of his heart…maybe) for Skull for being a civilian drug into the mafia, he really felt that if the teen (yes, he had done his research and Skull was about nineteen) wanted to last long in the situation he was in, the boy really ought to learn how to keep his mouth shut and his head down. Skull wasn't earning himself any favors by constantly annoying Reborn (and everyone else for that matter).

So far Lal-Mirch was a soldier through and through, and while he could appreciate her ability to follow orders and make snap decisions when necessary, her over aggressiveness was rather off-putting.

Fon was actually a pleasant person to be around. The martial artist often was drinking tea and over all generating a gentle and calm aura. But he had discovered when Fon snapped, it was like seeing one of his Veela cousins lose it (complete and utter chaos that you wanted to stay far, far away from.) And though the Chinese man was annoyed at first about Verde's lack of presence, he didn't stay that way very long (but that could have had something to do with the very expensive collection of herbal tea Verde had had sent to the man. It never hurt to be on the good side of someone who could kill you bare handed).

As far as Verde was concerned Viper was even more cold hearted than people had ever accused him of being. The only thing on their mind was money, money, money, and more money (they had actually taped a bill on the computer screen of how much they were charging Verde for making them wait. After he had observed the mist for a week, to note their preferences, instead of paying the bill, he sent Viper the deed to twenty percent of the shares in a dairy that Verde had bought once he had become pregnant (the company made the best strawberry milk, which he had observed Viper had a great liking for)). As Viper had never brought up his bill again and the fridge had since been filled with strawberry milk he reasonably assumed Viper had accepted that as a form of payment.

Reborn…well, there were a lot of mixed feelings concerning Reborn. He loved the man, however, he was still, still, inexplicably angry at him. And the rage only continued to burn as Verde watched him flirt with the pregnant sky that the missions required the sun to be around. A sky Verde very much (as previously stated) despised. Yet seeing Reborn, day after day, even through a computer screen forced Verde to see what he had lost, and made his longing for Reborn to flourish (and then he would catch him flirting with Luce again and that just made the cycle restart).

But his father had had a point. It wasn't like him to avoid a problem or make an assumption without testing the hypothesis.

And if there had ever been anything Verde had learned in life (besides never betting against Uncle George) it was that he should always stay true to himself: his experimenting, word-keeping, suspicious, never-trusting, isolationist - self.

He decided to attend (which had absolutely nothing to do with the threatening letter -warning- he had received from Luce saying that he had to show up to the next meeting, pregnant or not. Again with the 'You're smart, you'll figure something out' witching) in his normal appearance (made possible by his father giving him a charmed amulet to hide his protruding stomach) just to see how Reborn would react. Why? some might ask, hadn't he done this before. Well, to be perfectly honest, it was simple: he didn't want to.

He had never much been a people person or one to enjoy being among others, so his pregnancy had given him the perfect excuse to avoid human contact so that "no one would see the pregnant male"...yeah right. He might have been bored but that didn't mean he wished to subject himself to frolicking with the masses, and even his father couldn't fault this excuse to get away from human contact -pity it would only last two months longer.

Anyway, the next meeting with his 'equals' he would be attending as himself...glamoured of course. It would be interesting to see Reborn's reaction to his male self.

* * *

"Let's get this party started!" the lackey exclaimed much to the annoyance of the others around him.

Fon hummed in his normal mild-mannered way. "Yes, I agree with Skull-"

"For once." Lal-Mirch said bitingly.

"-We need to head off soon. If we wish to make it to the summit by the appointed time." Fon continued as if he had never been interrupted, even as Skull yelled, "Hey!" at Lal-Mirch's remark.

"Mou- we are wasting time; thus money. Someone will compensate me if this continues." Viper said from under their hood.

"Now, now." Luce said soothingly. She was nearly due and looked gorgeous, to Reborn, even though she looked ready to pop. He vaguely imagined if it were Midori in that same state...but quickly shook that thought. The two women were nothing alike. Where Luce was warm, calm, cheery, and open...Midori had been frosty, hard, and a dynamite of a woman, with a no-nonsense attitude. Midori was the kind of woman who let nothing stand in her way and she was the type with the power and drive to kick anyone or anything out of her path to accomplish her goals. He honestly couldn't fathom the image of her allowing herself to become so vulnerable as to be pregnant.

But the idea...was so appealing. Not that it would ever come true, especially with him, as he had no idea what had caused her to up and disappear and no idea as to where she could possibly be.

He returned his thoughts to the matter at hand.

"Why are we still waiting?" His question grabbed everyone's attention without effort.

Luce opened her mouth to speak, but someone beat her to it.

"I believe that would be because of me." Said a deadpan voice.

Reborn was stunned, but hide it impeccably well.

"Verde! You made it!" Luce exclaimed excitedly completely ignoring the cold, vicious look the man in question was sending her.

Reborn was ignoring it too, he really couldn't get over the fact that the man looked exactly like a male version of Midori.

"Midori..." Reborn said to himself, so very quietly, and yet somehow, the green haired man heard his words.

"That would be a different shade of green." Quipped the man, as he pushed up his glasses, exactly how Midori had the habit of doing

"Mou- Pay up for making me wait." Viper said, breaking up the staring contest that had begun between Reborn and the man Luce addressed as Verde. The final member to their seven person group.

"Well," Luce said happily, willfully ignoring the sudden tension, yet very much aware of the whys about it. "Now that we're all here, let's head up the mountain. We wouldn't want to be late for destiny after all."

* * *

And like dogs, Verde thought with a sneer, we follow her up a bloody mountain, no questions asked.


End file.
